[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 24]
[Senate]
[Pages 33424-33425]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    COMPREHENSIVE IRAN SANCTIONS, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND DIVESTMENT ACT

  Mr REID. I want to speak today about S.2799, the Comprehensive Iran 
Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2009. This important 
piece of legislation, which combines legislation written by Senator 
Dodd with legislation introduced by Senators Bayh, Lieberman and Kyl, 
was passed by the Banking Committee earlier this month. It would impose 
new sanctions on Iran's refined petroleum sector and tighten existing 
U.S. sanctions in an effort to create new pressure on the Iranian 
regime and help stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
  I know that Senator Kerry, the chairman of the Foreign Relations 
Committee, has been working hard, along with other colleagues, to get a 
UC agreement so we can get this legislation passed. I understand that 
we are making good progress towards reaching that goal.
  As we move forward with these negotiations, I want everyone to know 
that I am committed to getting this legislation to the floor sometime 
after we return in January.
  Mr. DODD. I thank the majority leader for all of his help in trying 
to move this legislation forward. This comprehensive sanctions 
legislation would arm the administration with critical tools to apply 
additional pressure on the Iranian regime and disrupt its proliferation 
and terrorist activities at a pivotal time--a time when Iran's leaders 
continue to flaunt the will of the international community, trample on 
the rights of its own people, and threaten the national interests of 
the United States and our strongest allies, including Israel.
  It is now clearer than ever that tougher sanctions must be a key 
element of our comprehensive Iran strategy going forward. My primary 
goal with this bill is to prevent Iran from

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developing a nuclear weapons capability. That is why this measure 
passed the Senate Banking Committee unanimously in October, and I had 
hoped that we would be able to consider it in the Senate and move 
toward a conference with the House before we went out for the holidays. 
While I would have strongly preferred that, I recognize that given the 
delays on health care reform, we will not now have time to do that. I 
am also aware that the administration continues to have some concerns 
about how to create incentives in the bill for countries to cooperate 
more closely with U.S. efforts to impose tough new multilateral 
sanctions. I believe we have made some progress in our discussions of 
recent days, and I am grateful that the majority leader has indicated 
his willingness to move forward on the bill as soon as possible after 
we return.
  Mr. KERRY. I appreciate Senator Reid's commitment to move forward 
with this legislation and his support of the progress we are making 
towards a UC agreement. We all share the goal of creating maximum 
leverage in our efforts to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear 
weapon--this is a vital national security goal of the United States, 
and obviously of critical importance to our allies in Israel and around 
the world.
  I believe that this legislation has the potential to make an 
important contribution to that effort. Having the Senate stand united 
with the administration behind this legislation would send a very 
strong and positive signal. That is why many of us are committed to 
working with the administration and the bill's sponsors to craft an 
amendment that all can agree on. I know these discussions will be 
continuing during recess with the intention of reaching a mutually 
agreeable resolution so that this legislation can be considered as soon 
as possible when we get back.

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